Apella Capital LLC Reduces Position in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Apella Capital LLC reduced its stake in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 72,390 shares of the software giant’s stock after selling 579 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for 1.2% of Apella Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,645,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 263,534 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $113,399,000 after buying an additional 18,544 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after buying an additional 31,401 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 76,296 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $32,830,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Microsoft Stock Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $404.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $424.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $423.08. Microsoft Co. has a twelve month low of $385.58 and a twelve month high of $468.35.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The software giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.08. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.43% and a return on equity of 33.36%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Microsoft Co. will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.73%.

Insider Activity at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 56,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,931,278.28. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $3,493,820. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Microsoft from $475.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Microsoft from $540.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Microsoft from $470.00 to $465.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.96.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.